serving the convention community since 2007.

Pittsburgh, PA – July 9, 2012 – Horror Realm presents the second annual Summer of Scares to get fans warmed up for its fall convention. The program is presented in partnership with Eljay’s Books and The Hollywood Theater and includes:

· Horror Author Series – in conjunction with Eljay’s Books of Dormont, Horror Realm is presenting a periodic series of readings, question and answer sessions and book signings by local horror authors. Admission is free for all events and Eljay’s is offering a 20% discount on used horror titles every Saturday in July and August to celebrate the Summer of Scares. All events begin at 2 PM.

o July 14 – “Demon Zombie” Matt Demas, author of the Steel City Outbreak series, will be discussing his newest zombie novel, The Fall of Pittsburgh.

o July 21 – Lucy Leitner reads from Working Stiffs, her hilarious, action-packed tale of surviving zombies in the office.

o July 28 – DIY Author Chat with Chris and Christine. Aspiring author can talk to a published horror author (Christine Soltis) and an expert in author marketing (Eljay’s co-owner Chris Rickert) about the novel they want to write/ have written/ want to have stocked in local stores.

o August 11 – Denise Verrico signs Immortyl Revolution, a dark fantasy vampire novel series following vampires Kurt, Mia and Cedric in their fight for freedom.

MomoCon 2013

Exciting Events This Month

MomoCon is committed to bringing you an enjoyable time all year around, and we are excited to be doing two events this month.

MvC3 and Skullgirls Tournament

Saturday July 14th – 2PM Georgia Tech Student Center
We are hosting the first of our MomoCon On Tour Video Game Tournament series, starting with Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 and Skullgirls. The action will begin this Saturday July 14th at 2PM in the Georgia Tech Student Center. All of the tournament specific details can be found in our Facebook event here.

Annual Summer Ball

This year’s Westercon included time and alternate realities in its theme. So although the (not very serious) Tonopah bid for 2012 lost out to Seattle, its party at Westercon provided an alternate-timeline program book and daily zine sample from a theoretical reality where it did win. And where, apparently, Australia has just been added to the Westercon zone, and there is a very premature bid for a Worldcon at L5 shaping up…

Sequart Research & Literacy Organization and Respect! Films are proud to announce that the SDCC panel for their Comics in Focus: The Image Revolution documentary will feature special guest panelist Marc Silvestri!

If you’re a fan of Image Comics and are going to be at the San Diego Comic Con on Thursday evening (July 12th), you won’t want to miss this panel! Moderated by F.J. DeSanto (co-producer of The Spirit), the panel will feature Image Revolution director Patrick Meaney (Grant Morrison: Talking with Gods, Warren Ellis: Captured Ghosts), Sequart founder Julian Darius, and of course Marc Silvestri. The hour-long panel will feature over 10 minutes of exclusive footage from the documentary, behind-the-scenes info from Silvestri, and Q&A!

The panel will take place in room 32AB from 8pm to 9pm PDT on Thursday, July 12th. And yes, there are some other interesting panels happening at the same time, BUT while the comic book news sites will report on those other panels, you won’t be able to get another look at this footage until the DVD comes out in October.

Salt Lake City was the only bidder for the 2014 Westercon, but after last year’s drama, nothing could be certain. However, a solid majority voted for it, and Westercon 67 is planned for July 3-6, 2014. The official site is not up yet, but the bid site has some basic info to get you started.

Kevin Standlee, chairing the Westercon Business Meeting once again, has reported that this year’s took all of seven minutes.

At-the-door rates have been set: $230 for adults, $100 for young adults (17-21), $75 for children. Day memberships will run $40-$70 for adults, $20-$40 for young adults, and $15-$30 for children depending on the day.

The Klingon Language Institute’s annual conference will be running at the same hotel August 27-29. Worldcon members are invited to attend its last day, the day before Worldcon, for free.

If you’re in San Diego but couldn’t get a Comic-Con membership, or Comic-Con isn’t giving you enough to do, James H. Hay has compiled an amazing list of other events to keep you occupied this week. Art exhibitions, pub crawls, gamer meetups, and much more are available to you, many of them for free.

Anime News Network reports that Japan Expo, which runs anime conventions in France and Belgium, plans to hold an event in California in 2013. The date will be sometime in late summer, probably in view of the fact that California’s anime fans already have FanimeCon, AM2, Anime Expo, and SDCC from late May to early July.

While Japan Expo has displayed only competence so far, it’s hard not to notice the similarities between this and the ill-fated FedCon USA: the choice an already well-served market for its first venture on this continent, the very ambitious first-year attendance target, and the nearby existing con with potential for name confusion (Fencon then, Anime Expo now). Here’s hoping this one turns out better.

With only a few days left before San Diego Comic-Con, I want to provide one last copy of my compiled #SDCCTips from Twitter so that con-goers who are preparing to fly out can print this and take it along with them if they wished. I’ll be continuing to tweet tips using #SDCCTips on Twitter throughout the show, but from this point on you’ll need to find me on Twitter to get them. So, for one last time to prep for SDCC 2012, here they are: Read more

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - July 3, 2012 - The Baltimore Comic-Con is proud to announce the addition of comic legend to the growing line-up of creators attending this year’s show. The 13th annual show will be taking place September 8-9, 2012 at the Baltimore Convention Center in the heart of downtown Baltimore.

Starlin began his illustrious career as a writer and artist in 1972 and made a name for himself in the industry with his universe-spanning cosmic tales and space operas at Marvel Comics. In addition to revamping Marvel’s Captain Marvel and Adam Warlock, he is also the creator of Marvel’s Mad Titan, Thanos.

Aside from creating Thanos, Starlin also co-created Marvel’s Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu along with Steve Englehart. His extensive resume includes on the DC Comics titles Detective Comics, Batman, and Legion of Super-Heroes, working on such notable story-arc as “Batman: A Death in the Family” and “Ten Nights of the Beast.”

“With the amazing success of Marvel’s The Avengers this summer, we couldn’t be more thrilled to have the creator of one of the Avenger’s most fearsome adversaries attending the show,” said Marc Nathan, show promoter of the Baltimore Comic-Con. “With Thanos set to be the next major villain in the second phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Jim Starlin is a guest that everyone is going to want to see at the show!”

Most recently, Stalin wrote and drew the seven-issue miniseries, Breed: Book of Revelation for Image Comics and The Art of Jim Starlin: A Life in Words and Images published by IDW, both in 2011.

In the coming weeks, look for more announcements from the Baltimore Comic-Con. We are looking forward to highlighting our guests, the Harvey Awards, industry exclusives, and programming. The latest developments can always be found on our website, Twitter, and Facebook pages.

This year’s Baltimore Comic-Con will be held September 8-9, 2012. Convention hours are Saturday 10 AM to 6 PM and Sunday 10 AM to 5 PM. The ceremony and banquet for the Harvey Awards will be held Saturday night, September 8th.

Please take a moment to help us spread this message using the social media links embedded, reposting, or retweeting!

Contact Information

Please use the following e-mail addresses to contact the Baltimore Comic-Con:

The Baltimore Comic-Con is celebrating its 13th year of bringing the comic book industry to the Baltimore and Washington D.C. area. With a guest list unequaled in the industry, the Baltimore Comic-Con will be held September 8-9, 2012. For more information, please visit www.baltimorecomiccon.com.

About The Harvey Awards
The Harvey Awards are one of the comic book industry’s oldest and most respected awards. With a history of over 20 years, the last 7 in conjunction with the Baltimore Comic-Con, the Harveys recognize outstanding achievements in over 20 categories. They are the only industry awards nominated and selected by the full body of comic book professionals. For more information, please visit www.harveyawards.org.

NEW ORLEANS – After seven successful annual conventions since 2005, MechaCon returns to the Hilton New Orleans Riverside on the weekend of September 7-9, 2012 with an all-new event dubbed MechaCon VIII.

Centrally located along the I-10 corridor between San Antonio, Texas and Jacksonville, Florida, New Orleans will again serve as the host city for MechaCon. Being a convention held in the “Crescent City,” MechaCon is easily accessible for fans from not only Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Alabama, but also for fans from the entire southeastern United States region, ranging from the Carolinas to Oklahoma.

Confirmed attendees at previous MechaCons included fans from all over North America, including areas as far away as Mexico, Canada, Washington state, California, New York and more, making MechaCon a well-attended event from all fronts. Read more

I received a copy of Eien Strife’s cd Full Speed Ahead to review for the readers of con-news. We have posted news about the band as they have made a lot of appearances at various conventions this past year. They seemed to be building quite a following and our readers who had seen them live said good things. I had no idea what to expect from the cd. Color me surprised to find myself having it in heavy rotation since getting it. I can see how this music goes over great with the anime crowd as occasionally I hear a riff or a lyric in a song that could easily be the theme for an Anime show. But before you write them off as Jpop, let me tell you don’t. Some of the songs remind me of bands from my indie rock days. I could see this band had they existed ten years ago being on Initial or Jade Tree Records (google it kids, youll find something you like).

The 15 songs on the album really move at a rapid clip as most are full high speed energy songs. I bet this is great to see at a convention surrounded by some of your like minded fans. The songs have elements of lyrics that work for fandom audiences but I don’t think you have to be into anime or manga or gaming to enjoy the songs. Some of my favorite songs are Visions of Clarity, Not Alone, and the instrumental Full Speed Ahead. There is a great cover of a very popular video game song on the cd. It’s listed as Untitled so I’m not going to share which song.

Overall you get 15 very good songs for only 10$. Check out a few songs on the bands website, if you like it get it. The whole album is very solid. And at the very least next time Eien Strife is playing a convention or club nearby, go see them. I know I will.

I’m back with my tips on panel strategies. As a vet of the SDCC scene, I’ve seen the cultures of panels change dramatically over the years. The world of panels at SDCC today is a vicious one that requires a great deal of thought on opportunity costs when picking where you’re going to spend your time. If the Firefly Anniversary panel is a must for you, then it must also be understood that you’re going to lose a great deal of sleep as well as time in any other area of the show. That being said, many will make this choice. Read more

NEW YORK and ROSEMONT, Ill., June 28, 2012 – An All-Star lineup of comic and toy creators, including notables Carlos Pacheco, George Pérez, Greg Capullo, J. Scott Campbelland many others from around the world will populate Artist Alley at Wizard World Chicago Comic Con, August 9-12 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center. Among the special guests are five Eisner Award winners, including Hall of Famer Stan Lee, and eight nominees of the prestigious honor.